Super Bowl And DUI: Six Facts About One Of America's Drunkest Days

Travel
I delve into the business of business travel, and often the fun too.

Amid the Super Bowl hoopla about deflated footballs, really expensive commercials and crazy cute puppies, it's also worth remembering that Super Bowl Sunday one of the biggest drinking days of the year. Incidents of driving under the influence (DUI) can spike, and police departments nationwide are cracking down with DUI checkpoints and education campaigns.

Here are six facts you may not have realized about DUI - and its connection to Super Bowl Sunday.

1 - According to BACtrack, which makes smartphone-enabled breathalyzers to monitor blood alcohol content (BAC), its users in 2014 recorded average BAC of .091 percent on Super Bowl Sunday.

2 - .08 BAC percent is the legal limit for driving while intoxicated, although signs of impairment can kick in at much lower levels - see this chart from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). BACtrack reports that 43 percent of its customers purchased the device to avoid getting a DUI or to make sure they're under the legal limit when they get behind the wheel.

3 - According to a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2012 21 percent of fatal car crashes nationwide involved drivers with BACs of .08 percent or higher. Montana had the highest incidence of traffic deaths involving these drivers, at 34 percent. Utah had the lowest, 11 percent.

NHTSA has a "designate a sober driver" campaign just for this year's Super Bowl.

4 - Timed to the Super Bowl, MADD and the ride-sharing company Uber this week issued a report that begins "nearly 300,000 people drive drunk every day," and estimates that "every 52 minutes someone is killed in a drunk driving crash."

Tennessee Titans tight end Delainie Walker spoke at the press conference announcing the report. His aunt and uncle were killed by a drunk driver after watching him play in the Super Bowl in 2013, in New Orleans.

5 - Given that Uber sponsored the research (though MADD endorses the results), it's perhaps not too surprising that it finds that the number of drunk driving accidents has decreased in Uber markets. In California, where Uber debuted in 2012, it says that drunk driving accidents declined by some 60 cases monthly across cities where Uber operates, compared to previous years.

The study also found that peak Uber usage coincided with peak drinking hours at bars across the nation. In Chicago, for example, "a disproportionate number of weekend, late-night Uber requests come from businesses with liquor licenses, with 45.8 percent of rides requested from these locations coming during the peak drinking hours of 10PM and 3AM, compared to 28.9 percent in off-peak times."

On Super Bowl Sunday, Uber will donate $1 to MADD for each passengers entering the promo code "THINKANDRIDE" between 3PM and midnight Eastern Time.

6 - BACtrack, for its part, created this clever infographic showing the peak BAC days throughout the year. Better watch out: Valentine's Day is near the top (.092 percent), and coming up quick.